The invention relates to an apparatus for stacking and accumulating a chain of interconnected flexible bags having cooperating zippers-locking fastener profiles in a folded condition in a rectangular carton, and, more particularly, to an automated machine for stacking and accumulating a chain of flexible bags of the type having zipper-locking profiles in a continuous manner which prevents the chain from being broken and enables the stack to be formed of a series of laterally directed back and forth layers resulting in substantial increase in the quantity of bag chain stacked in a carton.
As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,699,746 and 3,744,211, it is known for plastic bags, as formed of plastic film in a rectangular shape having an upper edge, a lower edge, and opposite lateral edges with zipper-locking profiles running laterally along each bag near its upper edge, to be connected one after another at a trailing lateral edge of one and a leading lateral edge of another so as to form a chain of such bags. It is known for a chain of plastic bags without zipper-locking profiles to be stacked vertically one directly on top of the other, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,201,029 and 3,699,746.
Because zipper-locking profiles are considerably thicker than other portions of such bags, and because such profiles tend to lie upon each other, a vertical stack of such bags having such profiles tends to be unstable and to require excessive space to accommodate such a stacking arrangement of these bags.
The present invention concerns a better way to package a chain of bags of plastic or other flexible material in a rectangular carton, wherein the bags are formed of plastic film in a rectangular shape having an upper edge, a lower edge, and opposite lateral edges with zipper-locking profiles running laterally along each bag near its upper edge to form a reclosable mouth opening. The present invention also concerns an automated apparatus for mechanically stacking and accumulating an indefinite length chain of such zipper-locking fastener profile flexible bags in this better way, so that the stacking process can be performed quickly and efficiently.